MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

1/16 Woody’s Winter Warm-up huge success

Kerry Wood raised more than $85,000 at the Wood Family Foundation’s first “Woody’s Winter Warm-Up” on Friday, which included Theo Epstein playing guitar. The event was held at Harry Caray’s tavern on Navy Pier and was perfectly timed as Wood re-signed with the team earlier in the day at the Cubs Convention. Wood recruited guest bartenders throughout the evening, and they suited up in a t-shirt and bar apron and competed for tips while serving drinks and food to guests.

Guests were not only entertained by the special acoustic performance by the event’s headline band, Plain White T’s, but unexpectedly by Cubs pitcher Randy Wells, who took to the stage to perform “Free Fallin” alongside the Plain White T’s. Epstein was next up and played “Rockin’ In A Free World” on guitar with the band.

The bidding became interesting when Dempster asked Wood to include a 30-minute pitching session with himself. When Wood agreed, the auction shot up and sold at $7,000. Another bidder shouted their interest in buying the exact same package for $7,000 if offered, and it was.

Wood and his wife, Sarah, thanked everyone for coming and spoke about the Wood Family Foundation and its mission. Wood said he was excited about the upcoming season, saying “there is no place like Chicago — it’s home.”

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